Virtual Soul Tournament Version 20
by Mercenary Pen
Summary: A new duel monsters tournament is beginning sixteen years after the end of the battle city tournament. Many new duellists, and some old favourites, are participating. Please R and R (No Flames). PG 'cause anything could happen within reason.
1. Prologue

The Virtual Soul of the Duellist Tournament: Version 2.0 

Okay, this is a second attempt at setting up thiis story, where the first version got deleted on the basis of a technicality, so if there's anything wrong with this can you please tell me in a review so that I can replace the offending chapter/ chapters, rather than throwing me to the wolves and getting my ing stories deleted. For more details on what happened to my previous attempt at this story, see my bio (details are right at the bottom).

Prologue.

It is sixteen years since the end of the Battle City Tournament, and over the years that followed, Yugi Motou and Seto Kaiba, for a while the supreme duellists in tournaments worldwide have reached an uneasy truce, following a string of duels that they drew against one another in, and have eventually stepped aside, allowing younger duellists to take their place, keeping the game and its highest tournaments interesting for both the participant and the spectator.

It is now, 9 years after Yugi and Kaiba's last ever public duel that they have come out of seclusion to host a new tournament, one held inside the virtual universe developed over the years by Kaiba corporation- a duel monsters tournament that would sort out the strongest of a new generation of duellists, occasionally pitting them against the remnants of the previous generation's elite, with the winner being given the opportunity to face either Yugi Motou or Seto Kaiba in a duel to end all duels.

This is the story of some of those new duellists, and a few of the older duellists who just don't know when to quit, and their experiences in this, which seemed at the time to be the tournament to end all tournaments.


	2. And so it begins

Chapter 1: And so it begins.

It was five o'clock in the afternoon, and, having returned from work about an hour ago, Stella Nova, aged 19, and feeling that she had something to prove, was finally outdoors once again, meeting with all the friends she had left behind when she left school and instead of going on to university went out and got herself a job.

Unlike many people her age, particularly the girls, she was into the gaming craze that was duel monsters, and wasn't bad when she actually duelled either, possessing a deck that had the ability to deal serious damage to an opponent's life points within the first few turns of a duel, then following up to finish her adversaries off.

Amongst her friends and duelling colleagues she was considered to be the best duellist yet, but deep within she knew, whether it was false modesty or not, that there were many duellists better than her.

Then, just as she met the old gang just outside the local "Devlin cards and dice emporium", which was their hangout point, mostly because the place had the facilities to hold real duels, but also because the manager of the local branch, old Mr. Khan, was the father of one of the duellists in the group, a commercial came up on the big screen TV in the emporium's foyer. It was a new commercial, starting with TV footage from the last ever public duel between Seto Kaiba and Yugi Motou, where Yugi had played "Ring of Destruction" (IOC-SE3) against Kaiba's "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (P3-01) to force a draw in the first turn. Then, a voice, one that sounded like Seto Kaiba himself, announced, "In five weeks time the Kaiba Corporation will be holding a special duel monsters tournament, the winner of which will have the chance to face either of the retired Duel Monsters champions, Yugi Motou or my brother Seto Kaiba, to a duel to end all duels, the event of the decade, if you will."

Huh, the voice, which had sounded so much like Seto Kaiba, although they had not seen the speaker, had claimed that it belonged to Seto's brother- what was his name? Uh...Oh, yes, Mokuba or some such.

The voice continued, telling them that anyone who was interested should sign up at any one of a number of places, most of them run by the Kaiba Corporation, for example, Kaiba Land (all branches), Kaiba Burger (the subsidiary company run by Mokuba Kaiba), but also at various larger branches of "Devlin's card and dice emporium".

Then, a voice came from behind her, "Hey, Stella, you hear that, each of us has the chance to challenge the champions of duel monsters, it'll be the ultimate duel off a lifetime!" The voice, she realised, belonged to Ahmed Khan, the manager's son and one of the better duellists in her circle of friends.

He was of Indian origin, and three years younger than her at sixteen years of age. "You want to compete?" he asked, "My dad has me registered for the tournament, so we can get you registered as well, if you want. The prize money for the top eight competitors is a minimum of $20,000...with a double for each extra round you take part in."

It was a long shot, she thought, but taking part in a tournament like that would be fun and would tax her to the limit, she thought, and followed her friend to the counter where his father would register her for the tournament.

Meanwhile, in another city, Jet Kypper was heading home from yet another shift of waitressing, telling herself that she'd quit the job if only she didn't need the money to get through university when she went in the autumn. Parking her motorbike, she locked it away in the garage before going inside. She picked up the assortment of post and newspapers from off the mat inside the door, sorting through them as she made her way to the lounge. Finally, she thought, the duellist world (which she had subscribed to only a couple of months back) had arrived; this month it was only a couple of days late, but hey, the postal service in Britain was going to hell in a handbasket anyway. That was interesting, she thought, spotting the advert that jumped out as she flicked through, a worldwide duel monsters tournament, prize money for the top eight, all expenses paid, and it would be fun in any case. She wasn't doing anything then that she couldn't cancel, and she had that fortnight booked off from work as holiday anyway.

In Canada, in a small town near one of the major cities, Christian Zenevas had just heard about Kaiba Corporation's new duelling tournament. This was excellent news he thought, turning down his hi-fi so that loud music would not have **disturbed** his plans to claim this latest title, as the premier duellist of all time. Last year he had come second in the Canadian national tournament, only for the tournament winner to die horrifically in a car crash a few weeks later, leaving him as Canada's best duellist on record. He would of course enter this new tournament, but first, he thought, he would see how his deck and strategy could be improved upon with the addition of a few of the newest cards around. Whatever happened, he was going to prove himself a ranking duellist in the world once and for all, destroying even the might of Kaiba's Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, if he could.

Karina Tsada looked up from her cat, Sylvia, the post had arrived, and her father said their was something for her. It wasn't only that she was one of Japan's top duellists since Yugi and Kaiba had retired, having even won the world under-20's title once (last year), but she was also in a variety of other clubs for strategy games, almost outsmarting people for a living, if you will. She ran downstairs to collect her mail, reading the top item even as she went upstairs, which resulted in her tripping over the top step and landing face-first in the upstairs hallway, but that was normal. She scanned through her mail, the only real things of interest being an offer on cat toys at the local pet store, and...ooh, Kaiba Corporation was hosting a worldwide duel monsters tournament, and she was invited to participate as a guest of honour, perhaps even winning the right to challenge Seto Kaiba or Yugi Motou to a duel if she won her way through the rest of the tournament.

A word from the author: This author does not own, has not owned and will not own Yu-Gi-Oh, which is owned by Shonen Jump and its licensees. He does however own the plot line of this story, and any unofficial cards used in this story (there probably will be a few at the very least, but then the game's had 16 years to develop). All existing cards will be treated as such, with a set code given in brackets, (e.g. IOC-SE3). For those wondering about the original version of this story, check out my bio, where, right at the bottom (sorry folks but there may be a lot of waffle before you reach it **Reader Advisory: Lethal Waffle Content**), there is details on what happened to the original attempt at this fic, and my thoughts on the actions taken.

Thank you for reading, Sedition rules and good night (you can all go to sleep at any time of day now if you just read this first).

MP signing off.


	3. The Opening Ceremony

Chapter 2: The Opening Ceremony.

The five weeks rushed past in what seemed like no time at all, and it was now the opening ceremony of the virtual champions tournament. But, unlike most tournaments, this was not taking place in a specific city, or even in a specific country; but instead, each participant was directed to the Kaiba Corporation offices nearest them. Once they arrived at these offices, and were greeted (their documentation being checked at this time), they were swiftly ushered up to the top floor of the local Kaiba Corp. offices, where they were delivered to a room containing up to five virtual reality pods of the variety pioneered by Kaiba Corporation.

Then, having been quickly briefed on the operation of these pods, they were helped inside, their duelling decks being slotted into the receptacle that was designed for them, and entered the virtual reality of Kaiba Corporation.

They each found themselves in a large hall, perhaps part of a castle, directly in front of them stood their hosts, Seto Kaiba and Yugi Motou, along with some of the older participants in this tournament, among them the blond haired Joey Wheeler and the red haired form of his sister, Serenity. Beside them stood both the white haired Bakura Ryou and the Gaunt faced Bonz, along with many of the less memorable older duellists.

It was at this point that Seto Kaiba began to speak, "Fellow duellists, I welcome you all to the Virtual Champions tournament. Here, you will duel one another for the chance of one of the sixteen places in the tournament's final stage, for which prospective qualifiers will be required to collect five specialist qualifier cards, which will be automatically added to your decks when you defeat a registered opponent, and each winner will also receive a specialist pack of promotional cards, developed specifically for this tournament by Maximillion Pegasus himself. The Standard duelling rules are to be used in this tournament, although the Deckmaster rules can be used by agreement. The tournament will only permit each participant to remain in the virtual world for up to two six-hour sessions per day, and thus the rest of your time is yours to use for such things as eating, sleeping and other necessary human functions. The tournament will commence in one hour precisely, so I would suggest that each of you prepare for the duel of your lives. Now, for a word from the co-organiser of this tournament, Yugi Motou."

Yugi stepped forward, "I wish each and every one of you good luck, and may the heart of the cards be with each and every one of you."

Joey was confused, across the chamber that was in use for the opening ceremony, he could see someone small with light green hair, butt he knew for a fact that none of the Roba brothers were participating, and besides, they'd all dyed their hair blue a few years ago in any case. Still, the face of the green-haired kid looked remarkably familiar, and in his gut, Joey's instincts told him he had met that kid before, although his instincts said he'd met the kid so many years ago that he wouldn't have been alive when Joey thought he'd last bumped into the kid.

The atmosphere of the opening ceremony was electric, with all of the younger generation duellists mixing and mingling with one another, and even with the more friendly of the older generation duellists. But then, abruptly, the hour was up and the tournament due to begin. Suddenly, the scenery blurred as Kaiba's virtual technology sped them to the assorted locales where the duelling would take place, whether it was in the middle of a pitched battle (between virtual duel monsters, of course), at the top of a volcano, in space, or even in such a mundane setting as a simulated city, the locales had been expertly developed, with each being as close to graphically perfect as it was possible to make it. It was also at this time that each player was fitted with a virtual duel disc system, already containing his or her deck.

Joey found himself on top of a rocky desert mesa, no one there except himself and that green haired boy.

The boy spoke, "Its good to see you again Joey..."

Suddenly, Joey was able to put a name to the face that had taunted the very workings of his memory, "Noah," he cried.

"Yes," the boy-like computer simulation sneered, "even self-sacrifice couldn't kill me. Now, finally, I have the opportunity to prove how skilled a duellist I really am, first by defeating you, and then by working my way up to the point where I can defeat Seto Kaiba in a duel. Now Joey, prepare to duel with not one but two Deckmasters, otherwise you shall not leave here to continue the tournament."

End of chapter

A word from the author: Yes, I did deliberately leave you all on a bit of a cliff-hanger (or should I say that I left you all atop some virtual mesa), but the tournament is now underway and you should see some skilled duelling from all the participants (even Bonz, given that you can't really play duel monsters for over sixteen years and not learn anything new), and perhaps even a few surprises.

Anyhow, until next time, this is Mercenary Pen, signing off.


End file.
